Minnesota lawsuit says FEMA illegally tied disaster funds to election changes

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has joined a multi-state lawsuit challenging new federal conditions that tie disaster preparedness and homeland security funding to desired changes in state election administration and immigration enforcement.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, says the Trump administration unlawfully attached political conditions to grant programs Congress created to help states prepare for natural disasters, cyberattacks and acts of terrorism.

Minnesota stands to lose more than $22.5 million in federal funding used by state and local governments for emergency preparedness if it does not comply with the new requirements, according to the complaint.

"Donald Trump and his administration show no shame in trying to rig America’s elections, including by putting Minnesotans’ lives at risk of disasters and terrorism," said Attorney General Ellison. "We’ve beaten this back before, and because my job is to protect Minnesotans, I’m going to court again to beat it back again."

DHS, however, said the grant requirements are about national security.

"Under President Trump’s leadership, we are taking decisive action to protect election systems from threats like foreign interference, insider threats, and cyberattacks," said DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin. "These new requirements for homeland security grant recipients will preserve election integrity and ensure that Americans can trust the results."

Minnesota is already in the middle of its primary election season. Early voting is underway ahead of the Aug. 11 primary, making the lawsuit's challenge to federal election-related requirements particularly urgent.

FEMA, DHS conditions link emergency funds to election policies

At the center of the lawsuit are three new grant conditions the coalition says have nothing to do with disaster preparedness.

First, the states say FEMA and DHS are once again trying to require states to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement in order to receive emergency preparedness funding. The lawsuit notes a federal court blocked similar requirements last year.

Second, under the new rules, states could lose 20% of their Homeland Security Grant Program funding unless they adopt election policies promoted by the Trump administration. Those include expanding the use of paper ballots, conducting mandatory hand-count audits, using a voter-ballot reconciliation process developed by DHS and verifying the citizenship of election workers and registered voters through the federal SAVE database.

The coalition said those election requirements have no connection to emergency preparedness and would force states to overhaul election systems using money Congress intended to help communities prepare for disasters and public safety threats.

Finally, the lawsuit challenges a provision that would allow FEMA to terminate grants at any time. The coalition argues Congress, not federal agencies, sets the rules for these grants and says the administration cannot revoke funding simply because it disagrees with a state's policies.

The lawsuit argues all three conditions exceed the federal government's authority, violate the U.S. Constitution and conflict with federal law governing how disaster preparedness grants are administered. It asks the court to declare the grant conditions unlawful and block DHS and FEMA from enforcing them.

There is no timeline on when the court will make a decision.